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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

"With"

"Hey, mom, I just wanted to let you know that my name has changed." #2 Son was making himself a some breakfast when he made this pronouncement.Really? i asked. What would you like to be called?"From now on, my name is Plays With Squirrels, and Festus' name is Stabs With Pigeons. Just thought you might like to know."Well, i'm not sure that i do want to know. How does one stab with pigeons, anyway?"You don't want to know," he answered with a smile, as Little Girl walked in.Wiping sleep from her eyes, she added, "Oh, and I'm Dances With Bears, by the way. Also, you know what I've found out?"What have you found out?"I've found out, that as soon as you decide you really are going to go ahead and get out of the bed, all of a sudden the mattress becomes ten times more comfortable than it was just a second ago."Ain't that the truth, i muttered.

"By the way, mom, what would your name be?" Little Girl asked.

Hmph, i thought i already had a name.

"A name like the ones we picked," she said.

Well, how about Scrubs The Toilets, i answered drily.

"No, i mean your 'With' name, like ours," she added."Yeah, mom, it has to have 'With' in the middle and it has to have an animal in it," #2 Son noted."How about Sings With Otters?" was Little Girl's suggestion.

Have you ever heard me sing? The otters in question would be terrified out of their minds.

"Oh, yeah."

So, knowing that today is an unofficial "holiday" called Ding-a-Ling Day, how about Deals With Ding-a-Lings?

After all, what else would you call young people who hang out with friends named Stabs With Pigeons?

Yuletide Lads begin arriving -- Iceland (Jolasveinar trolls, children of Gryla and Leppaludi, who come one each day to bring gifts and mischief from now until Christmas) Yuletide Lad of the Day, Stekkjarstaur -- Sheepfold Stick, who will try to drink the milk from the farmers' ewes

The Battle at Ninevah: Byzantine emperor Heraclius defeats Perzen, 627The Order of the Dragon is created by Sigismund, King of Hungary, and his wife Queen Barbara of Celje, following the battle for possession of Bosnia, 1408Isabella crowns herself Queen of Castile and Aragon, 1474Jews are expelled from Schlettstadt Alsace by Emperor Frederick III, 1479In Vienna, Ludwig von Beethoven receives his first lesson in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn, 1792Mexico is officially recognized as an independent nation by the US, 1822The first Canadian coins are circulated (1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent and 20 cent), 1858Rudolph Dirks' first Katzenjammer cartoon strip appears in the NY Journal, 1897Belo Horizonte, the first planned city of Brazil, is founded, 1897George F Bryant of Boston patents the wooden golf tee, 1899Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland, 1901Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India, 1911Oscar Straus becomes US Secretary of Commerce, the first Jew to be a US Cabinet member, 1906The first all metal aircraft, the Junkers J-1, is test flown in Dessau, Germany, 1915In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys, 1917The first prototype of a hovercraft is patented by British engineer Christopher Cockerell, 1955Guinea joins the United Nations, 1958The Russian Federation gains independence from the USSR, 1991Authorities in the Cayman Islands refuse to allow a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship chartered by gay people to dock, 1997Canada withdraws from the Kyoto Protocol to avoid penalties for treaty violations, 2011